It fascinates me how popular science is just a salve for people's fears and anxieties. Science does not provide the kinds of answers people want, so popular science steps in to make unfalsifiable claims about human immortality or whether or not aliens exist, or whatever else is gnawing away at people. I don't have any deeper analysis than that. It's just interesting.
The limits of science, either experimental or observational, are not well taught. It is to the benefit of a lot of people to claim it can do a lot more than is actually possible.